A Love Affair Comes to an End

byLorraineonSeptember 12, 2010

It occurred to me that having a garden (and that’s any kind of garden), is a bit like being in a love affair as it unfolds and embraces you in a relationship that you have no idea where is going to go or if it will end or continue blissfully into the infinite future!

I don’t think that when a person decides to start a garden, that they are thinking of the consequences of that decision and what will be expected of them from their plants. They have to be looked after, maybe babied and sometimes need a little more attention that you thought you would have to give when you started your project.

My garden is 100% native plants and when I started it almost three years ago, I didn’t know too much about native plants and I relied on books and some advice as to what my plant selection could be. I poured through the books, loved many plants that I saw and envisioned them in my garden.

However, you have to be realistic, not all of them are appropriate for your space and falling in love with some of them can be a bad decision. Then you are forced to recognize that the relationship just isn’t working anymore and you’re loath to do anything about it , because you still “care”.

After much consideration, hand-wringing and how I can best initiate the breakup without too much pain, I’ve decided to remove the Canyon Prince Rye Grasses. I still love them… a lot but you know?

It’s just not working for me anymore and it’s time to move on to the next chapter in my relationship with my garden. I severely cut two of them back today….and yes. And in about two months, the rest of them will get cut to the ground, too.

And then I will attempt to transplant them to my backyard but I’m not holding my breath on this. They will probably be so shocked by the breakup, that they may die of broken hearts.

Loved your write up from Sept 12. Well put! I had to give a cucumber plant the axe not long ago. It only produced one ugly cucumber and was barely hanging on. I must admit, I was probably a lot more cold hearted than you while yanking that sucker out of the ground and throwing in the “green recylce”. I can learn some compassion about these things from your articles! LOL

This is a great site, I really believe in trying to follow what your garden will allow you to plant rather than imposing your will upon nature. It was always possible your rye grasses weren’t happy where they were either, or had become too complacent there!

Hi Zoa, we’re still eating and harvesting cucumbers – I will be very sorry when I have to send them to the compost heap.